Crypto Friendly Nations

Since last year, governments have fought to keep up with the fast growth of the cryptocurrency market. Although countries like China and South Korea favors a move to the control of digital currencies (though a regularlty shifting one), other nations have adopted a more progressive position.

Let’s take a look at some of the most crypto-friendly nations and discover how they are helping foster the development of blockchain technology and providing a safe haven for the community to innovate.

Japan

Japan is a global market hub and a very friendly country for cryptocurrencies. In April last year, Japan officially acknowledged cryptocurrency as a legal tender and provided exchange platforms a large regulatory environment to operate in. In fact, the Japanese Yen reportedly accounts for over 50% of the global Bitcoin trade around the world.

Japan has obviously adapted to the crypto revolution quite well especially with the introduction of the world’s first crypto-themed Jpop band named “Virtual Currency Girls”.

Switzerland

The central European country has recently made headlines for initiating a new regulatory framework for initial coin offerings (ICOs). The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) recently released guidelines meant to assisting local startups in launching ICOs compliant with Swiss laws.

Switzerland’s approach on ICOs is quite the opposite to what countries like Korea and China have, both of which have made moves to completely ban ICOs.

The Zug region in Switzerland accommodates the “Crypto Valley” project, an independent, government-sanctioned association that seeks to create a “world leading blockchain and cryptographic technologies ecosystem”.

United Kingdom

While it may seem rather surprising for a global financial hub like the UK to be on th list of crypto-friendly countries, but perhaps due to a fear of waning influence brought about by Brexit, regulators have been very lax to date, and London is currently home to a growing crypto community.

Seven of the largest crypto companies in the UK joined together to create the first UK blockchain industry trade body named CryptoUK. So as to prevent the threat of regulatory crackdowns, CryptoUK became the country’s first self-regulating crypto organization and they also recently released a code of conduct upholding the best practices in the business.

Netherlands

Amsterdam is popularly known in the crypto industry for hosting the “Bitcoin Embassy”, home to a very active crypto-community that works hard to promote widespread adoption of bitcoin. Amsterdam is named as the best tech startup in Europe and boasts the highest number of Bitcoin ATMs in the world.

Regulatory action concerning blockchain technology in the Netherlands has been absolutely lax, despite the popularity of cryptocurrencies in the region. Although the government has been testing its own cryptocurrency, the De Nederlandsche Bank “DNBcoin”, crypto regulation has yet to manifest in this progressive country in Europe.

Denmark

Denmark is no doubt one of the most crypto-friendly nations around the world, with zero percent tax on cryptocurrencies. Denmark does not believe cryptocurrencies as legal tenders since they possess no “issuer” and are thus exempt from regulation as indicated by a document released by The National Bank of Denmark.

Although the Danish government has consistently sent out warnings regarding the speculative nature of cryptocurrency, they follow a strictly “hands-off” procedure when regulating cryptocurrency, assigning regulation management to the EU.

The crypto-friendly nations featured above each offer different approaches and benefits for individuals and organizations investing in the blockchain ecosystem. One common factor they all share, however, is the proactive formation of self-regulating communities that guide the development of the industry into a positive direction.